News in brief

Nelson Surf Life Saving Club carnival

Nelson Surf Life Saving Club president Noah Hosie says last weekend’s carnival hosted at Tāhunanui Beach was “fantastic”. The Nelson club was joined by six others from around the South Island where they participated in inflatable boat races and other sport events on Saturday, 11 January before doing further training around the Waimea Inlet on the Sunday. The Nelson club did the city proud after its open women’s teams took out a couple of first places in the boat races, while numerous other top three places were scored across different teams and events. “It was a big weekend, it was great,” Noah says.

Stoke Stormwater upgrade

Work has begun on the upgrade of the stormwater system around Strawbridge Square in Stoke. Phase one of the work sees one lane of Songer St closed, with a detour in place along Neale Avenue and Putaitai St. This phase is expected to take two weeks, with the whole project taking eight weeks. Strawbridge Square has long had issues with flooding during heavy rain events.

Tophouse a top pub

The Tophouse Historic Inn in Nelson Lakes has been named as one of New Zealand’s best classic pubs by travel writer Peter Janssen. According to Peter, for a pub to be classic it must be built before 1967, have been continuously serving beer, and have some architectural integrity. “The Tophouse is beautiful. It’s tiny, and it’s made of cob, it was part of a chain of small cob hotels and ran through the middle of the South Island, and they were for drovers, people who were droving sheep,” he told RNZ. Peter has written a book about the country’s famous and beloved watering holes, called New Zealand Pubs.